The 'CIO as a venture capitalist' among tech trends

Others include business wearables

Consulting firm Deloitte has published its top 10 business technology trends, which include business wearables, industrialised crowdsourcing and the "CIO as a venture capitalist".

The report, titled "Inspiring Disruption", examines the changing landscape of technology and how multiple disruptive technologies are impacting business today.

The study focuses on the next 18-24 months and is divided into two categories - "enablers" and "disruptors".

Disruptors represent opportunities for technology executives to "create sustainable positive changes in IT capabilities, business operations and business models", Deloitte said.

Disruptors in the report include the "CIO as a venture capitalist", cognitive analytics, industrialised crowdsourcing, digital engagement and wearables, such as Google Glass.

Enablers are technologies in which many organisations have already invested, but "new developments and opportunities have inspired new business applications, thereby warranting a fresh look", Deloitte said.

Kevin Walsh, head of technology consulting at Deloitte UK, said: "One of the most interesting trends is the CIO developing a venture capitalist mindset in relation to IT portfolio management.

"An effective portfolio view enables the CIO to continually evaluate and manage the strategic performance of each asset, project and vendor and communicate the value contribution in terms that business leaders understand."

Examples of the trends in more detail include cloud orchestration. Deloitte said taht cloud adoption across the enterprise was a growing reality, but much of the usage is in addition to on-premises systems, not a replacement.